Colours of dance and drama, infused with some mouth-watering food, have already gripped the steel city ahead of Holi.

From cultural programmes to food festivals and parties, Jamshedpureans are all set to celebrate the festival of colours in style.

Social outfits Purvi Singhbhum Jila Marwari Sammelan and Marwari Yuva Manch, Jamshedpur, organised a cultural programme, Rangilo Rajasthan, at Michael John Auditorium in Bistupur on Thursday.

A 15-member troupe from Fatehpur in Rajasthan, led by folk artist Meghraj Marwari, mesmerised the audience with stellar performances. The group staged folk dances like bhawai, ghumar, kalbelia and folk songs like manganiyar.

Kalbelia, popularly known as snake dance, was one of the major attractions. Later in the evening, members of the Marwari community played floral Holi.

"Since we are away from our home state, this is the least we can do to educate the youths about the rich culture of our country," said Shravan Mittal, president of Purvi Singhbhum Jila Marwari Sammelan.

On the other hand, hotels in the city have also dished out a colourful platter to go with the festival.

Hotel South Park in Bistupur have gone the innovative way by organising a South Indian food festival with a western twist. The festival will begin from Friday.

From ice-cream dosa with chocolate sauce, sandwich dosa stuffed with fresh tomato, cucumber and mayonnaise, chilli paneer dosa to masala idli with potato and paneer fillings and veg spring roll dosa stuffed with noodles, there are options aplenty.

"We have come up with around 25 varieties of dosa and idli. There was a huge demand among customers for South Indian dishes and we did a lot of research before finalising the dishes," said chef Pawan Kumar of Hotel South Park.

Hotel Kannelite in Sakchi is organising a Holi bash Rang De on its premises on March 11.

Besides, dishing out a variety of savoury dishes, visitors will get to celebrate Holi with herbal colours.

From digging into lip-smacking fare like pawbhaji, papri chat, dahi vada, murg reshmi kebab, hariyali fish tikka, jalebis and pakodas, people will get to groove to foot-tapping numbers by a live orchestra. The entry charge is Rs 550 per person.

"We want to promote eco-friendly Holi so we have arranged herbal gulal. This will be a perfect Holi party for all Jamshedpur residents," said Kumar Sen, food and beverages manager of The Kannelite.

A city-based event management firm will also organise Vibgyor, a daylong foam party with live DJ at Nicco Jubilee Amusement Park on March 13.